County to give officials raises

Most Spokane County elected officials are to get raises Sept. 1 under a plan county commissioners tentatively adopted Tuesday.

If commissioners formally adopt that consensus plan, elected officials’ salaries would be tied to several benchmarks: commissioners’ salaries, District Court judges’ salaries and the average of sheriff salaries in six comparable counties.

“I like the idea of getting the politics out of it,” Commission Chairman Mark Richard said.

If an elected official is performing poorly, voters – not commissioners – should deal with the problem, Richard said.

Commissioners Todd Mielke and Bonnie Mager also liked the idea of avoiding paycheck politics.

Raises would become automatic because all the benchmarks are set by someone other than county commissioners.

Since 2000, commissioners’ salaries have been set by a 10-member voter-approved salary commission. The panel comprises four people appointed by county commissioners – representing the human resources, business, labor and the legal fields – and two randomly chosen residents from each commissioner’s district.

Now, Assessor Ralph Baker, Auditor Vicky Dalton, Treasurer Skip Chilberg and Superior Court Clerk Tom Fallquist are to receive a percentage of county commissioners’ pay.

Effective Sept. 1, those four elected officials are to receive 90 percent of the $93,000 county commissioners are paid this year. That works out to an 8 percent raise from the current $77,000 salary, to $83,700.

Starting in September 2008, the assessor, auditor, treasurer and clerk are to be paid 95 percent as much as county commissioners, whose salaries may have risen by then.

County Human Resources Director Cathy Malzahn said she plans to convene the citizens salary commission in January to review county commissioners’ pay for the first time since late 2005. The salary group can meet once a year but doesn’t do so unless asked.

Prosecutor Steve Tucker already knows what to expect next year.

Commissioners decided to pay him whatever a state salary commission awards District Court judges, and judicial salaries are set for two years in a row.

This year, the prosecutor’s $115,000 salary will rise $19,232, or 14.3 percent, to the $134,232 District Court judges are to begin receiving on Sept. 1. Tucker’s pay will go to $141,708 in September 2008.

Malzahn had recommended linking the prosecutor’s pay with the salary of Superior Court judges. She noted that Tucker’s salary is the lowest among six comparable counties: Pierce, Clark, Kitsap, Snohomish, Yakima and Benton. Most of those counties pay their prosecutors the same as Superior Court judges, currently $131,988, and the average is $130,935.

However, county commissioners decided to tie Tucker to lower-paid District Court judges because county residents might consider a larger increase excessive. They took no action on raising the $94,375 salary of Public Defender John Rodgers, who is appointed instead of elected.

Commissioners accepted Malzahn’s recommendation to set Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich’s salary at 100 percent of the average of his counterparts in Pierce, Clark, Kitsap, Snohomish, Yakima and Benton counties – on condition that his pay won’t be cut. Currently, the six-county average is $1,766 less than Knezovich’s $105,000 salary.

Malzahn said she plans to review the average in January to see whether Knezovich qualifies for a raise.

In related business, commissioners agreed to seek proposals for a study of other county salaries.